Bubbling over

Friday 1 October is a day Alison Robinson will never forget. It was the day she learned that her company, Artizian Catering Services, had gained the contract to cater for 900 staff at the new headquarters of entertainment software company Electronic Arts in Chertsey, Surrey. "We consumed several bottles of Champagne that day," she confesses.

The new contract is due to start early in 2000 and will increase Artizian's annual turnover to £2m. The deputy manager for the new site will be Sally-Ann Wooster, who has recently been working on another Artizian contract now undergoing refurbishment. An existing Artizian chef, as yet unnamed, will join her but the remaining staff for the new contract will be new recruits - the search has already begun.

Within the past month, there has been a new recruit in the head office in Wargrave, Berkshire. Jackie Brain has joined from Eurest as finance director to allow Robinson, who deals with finance matters, to concentrate on sales. "It was becoming too intense dealing with finance and sales," explains Robinson. Joint managing director Jayne Billam adds: "As turnover grows, someone needs to concentrate on the finance and the balance sheet full-time."

Brain, who prior to joining the company knew Robinson on a social level, bought a 10% share in the business for £20,000. One task she will assume is that of monitoring the monthly budget and forecast. The forecast for the last quarter has recently been compared with an actual budget and has shown the company to be 47% ahead of target, a reflection of how well the existing nine contracts in London and the Home Counties are performing.

Three of the contracts have recently undergone refurbishment and are relaunching. Last week, Artizian catered for a relaunch reception at the headquarters of Morley Fund Management, which spent £4m on refurbishments at its site at 1 Poultry in the City of London. A further eight dining rooms have been added, bringing the total to 11.

Robinson describes the relaunch evening as "a great success" despite one or two challenges which arose, including the lack of ginger cordial, a key ingredient for one of the three cocktails selected by the client to match the company colours of blue and orange. "We couldn't find any, so on the advice of a cocktail bar we bought 12 bottles of ginger ale and whisked it to beat the carbon out," explains Robinson. Another obscure ingredient - Creole shrub, an orange rum - was eventually located in Essex and a supply delivered for the evening.

Three hundred people turned up, against an expected 250, and were looked after by Artizian executive chef Simon Genduso and a team of seven staff brought in for the evening from other Artizian contracts. Cocktail barman Steve Mosseau was hired for the event and he served more than 600 cocktails. Robinson was accompanied by Billam, Brain and area manager Sally Jackson-Grimes, who is responsible for the contract.

The cost-plus contract officially began on 1 October but, until the refurbishments were completed on 25 October, catering services were restricted to tea and coffee. It now appears that the contract will provide more business than was originally thought. What was meant to be one lunch a week has already increased to three, for an average of 16 covers, and Robinson expects turnover at the site, projected as £89,000, to increase by 30%.

To cope with the increase in business, chef Tyrone Draper will be at the site full-time to provide a weekly-changing à la carte menu, rather than on an ad-hoc basis as first planned. He will be supported by front of house supervisor Christine Hogwood, hostess Chris Edwards and one other hostess yet to be recruited. Over the next six months, labour costs are expected to increase by 60%.

"The client was uncertain of the volume of business when the contract was set up, so it will be reviewed after the first few months when a trend has emerged," says Robinson. "We agreed pricing of menus and a labour structure. The contract is heavier on labour because the client wanted to ensure it could cope with any demand, but it will even out." Artizian receives a fixed fee of £14,500 per year for managing the contract.

Elsewhere in the Artizian portfolio, Maidenhead-based Mattel spent £40,000 refitting its catering facilities, now called Café M, and HFC Bracknell now has a new outlet, the Blue Café. At Hitachi, sales are already up by 34% since Artizian took on the contract, and this looks set to rise again when seating capacity is increased by 30% with the proposed addition of a conservatory. Catering manager June Harvey expects custom to be staggered, so there are no plans to take on further staff at present.

Harvey is taking an advanced course in hygiene at Thames Valley University, which will enable her to train other Artizian staff in basic food hygiene. The course is costing £500 and is described by Robinson as a cost-effective operation. "We're trying to cultivate a training department in-house instead of outsourcing," she says. "The advantage is that the training can be tailored to the contract and refresher training can be arranged as needed. As it would cost £500 to send eight staff on a basic food hygiene course, payback will be in the first few months as the plan is to take one contract for a three-hour group training session."

Meanwhile, the focus for each contract is staff Christmas lunches. Genduso is busy planning menus and, although the agreed budgets vary, the average is £13 a head, and costs will account for about 25% of the December invoices. "The Christmas lunches will be very special, with more of a party theme, and waitress service," says Billam. "There will be a millennium focus and everything will be blue and gold, the Artizian colours. We're not going for traditional - there won't be a Christmas tree in sight."

Facts

Artizian Catering Services

4 Spring Meadows Business Centre, Wargrave, Berkshire RG10 8PZ

Tel: 0118 940 4440

Managing director and owner: Alison Robinson

Joint managing director: Jayne Billam

Finanace director: Jackie Brain

Number of contracts: 10, based in London and the Home Counties.

Gross profit for April-October 1999: £67,856

Morley Fund Management, London

Total refurbishment cost: £4m

Number of dining rooms: 11

Contract started: October 1999

Type of contract: Cost plus

Projected turnover: £115,700

The Story so far

Since starting Artizian Catering Services in December 1996 with a £30,000 investment, Alison Robinson has seen her company's turnover grow from £456,000 to £1.5m in 1999. A favourable outcome of a recent contract bid is set to take the company into a different league.